Outback murders, dodgy thieves, organised crime and arson - a small outback community is crackling with nerves, as Cam Fraser investigates.

Book Review:

If you take absolutely nothing else from author Felicity Young's Cam Fraser series, then it should serve as a reminder of how important volunteer fire services are in rural communities Australia-wide. Young's background in her local service provides a real-life understanding of the embedded nature of those services, and the affect that they can have on the personal and professional lives of volunteers and their close relationships.

The Cam Fraser series isn't however, just about fire-fighting. It's a police procedural, with a central character who has a personal life, in a small community where the past and present often collide. In the earlier book in this series (FLASHPOINT) we were introduced to Fraser, and his teenage daughter Ruby, after his wife and son were killed in a fire that also injured Fraser. A move from Sydney to the small town of his childhood in Western Australia was supposed to give father and daughter a chance to recover physically and emotionally, but his first case on return left him injured and contemplating resignation.

The discovery of a body in a wool bale in a shearing shed sets off an invesigation which ends up uncovering a long trail of murder, cattle and sheep rustling, and the use of arson as a diversion tactic. It also quickly becomes apparent that there are some pretty ruthless characters behind all these activities and they are not above some nasty goings on in order to protect what's obviously a very lucrative criminal undertaking.

The plot in FLARE-UP is nicely complicated, making sense in a rural area where smaller populations and greater distances mean witnesses are going to be thin on the ground, but people behaving oddly do get noticed. The arson elements blend nicely into the overall community aspects - creating the potential of witnesses, and a lot of threat and concern into the bargain. The competing priorities of policeman Fraser and his fire-fighting teacher girlfriend also contributes some personal tension, giving Young a chance to explore the difficulties of new relationships after traumatic loss - to say nothing of the problems that teenage children can present in that sort of scenario.

Much of the background to everybody comes from the earlier book, although it would be easy for a new reader to step into this series at FLARE-UP without missing out on too much. The interactions between Fraser and the other local cops are great, and the passages between his daughter, girlfriend and himself well executed. The plot is good - with the inclusion of crimes more common in rural areas, than perhaps urban, providing a different viewpoint for readers who should enjoy a series which is both entertaining and realistic.

Three years after a gang brutally murdered his wife and son, Sergeant Cam Fraser has returned with his daughter Ruby to the country town where he was raised - a town too small for trouble. But then a body is found on the school grounds, badly burned and unrecognisable. Who in Glenroyd could possibly be a murderer? And why?

Book Review:

Before WA based author Felicity Young commenced her extremely good Dr Dody McCleland series, she published a series of police procedural novels one of which built around the central character of Sergeant Cam Fraser in it. FLASHPOINT, originally out in 2005, has recently been re-released in ebook format.

Years ago this reader did read FLASHPOINT and some of the elements remained and obviously a lot didn't (the first version of this review muddled up the Cam Fraser and Stevie Hooper series utterly - with apologies to Felicity Young). FLASHPOINT looks back to recent events when his wife and young son were murdered, set in the immediate aftermath, as Fraser and his daughter Ruby return to the country town where he grew up - he assigned to the local Police Station, Ruby to be enrolled in the school that her mother attended.

The story starts out with the discovery of a burnt body and proceeds from there to build the details of the investigation, interwoven with the difficulties that Fraser and his daughter continue to have in coming to terms with the violent act that killed the rest of the family, and the tensions that come from settling into a new community, to say nothing of the difficulties of a now single father raising a teenage girl who is desperate to construct her own life.

The combination of an ongoing investigation, and the family tensions, as well as settling back into a town that has history for Fraser are balanced well, with Young writing the police procedural aspects with authority and a careful touch. The revelation of Fraser's backstory is woven into events in a logical manner, never distracting from the current death, providing insight into Fraser's behaviour and reactions, to say nothing of investigative tools and information that wouldn't be so readily available in larger, less connected societies. Whilst there is much in the sulky, difficult teenage daughter that is predictable, there is also the poignancy of a young girl whose life has gone through so much upheaval and the difficulties she is experiencing as a result.

As with the Dody McCleland series, this book works really well. Young expands the backstory and allow the characters to take on personalities that you can connect with. Which makes republishing FLASHPOINT as an ebook a great opportunity for fans of Australian police procedurals as FLAREUP, the second Cam Fraser book will be out next year.

Three years after a gang brutally murdered his wife and son, Sergeant Cam Fraser has returned with his daughter Ruby to the country town where he was raised - a town too small for trouble. But then a body is found on the school grounds, badly burned and unrecognisable. Who in Glenroyd could possibly be a murderer? And why?

Blurb About the Book

You can run from anything... but your fears. When Sergeant Cam Fraser thinks the gang who murdered his wife and son are targeting his daughter, he relocates to the other side of Australia, not expecting trouble in the small country town where he was raised. But a violent, puzzling murder at an exclusive girls' college plunges him into a baffling and deadly investigation - raises menacing ghosts from his past. Taut and creepy debut crime novel from rising Australian author.